Scottish Theatre Archive

The Scottish Theatre Archive forms part of Special Collections within the University of Glasgow...See more

The Scottish Theatre Archive forms part of Special Collections within the
University of Glasgow Library. Its role is to help preserve Scotland's
theatrical heritage by providing a safe and accessible home for archival
material relating to Scottish theatre. It also acts as a major centre for
enquiries, providing information from its own holdings or by directing
researchers to other repositories. It attracts scholars, students,
theatrical practitioners, historians and members of the public from all
parts of the world.

The Archive was founded in 1981 with funding from the Scottish Arts
Council. Further money was provided by some charitable organisations
including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Scottish International
Education Trust and the Duncan Macrae Memorial Fund. Since 1985, however,
the University Library alone has been responsible for its funding and
staffing.

The Archive's coverage of Scottish theatre is very broad, and includes
traditional and contemporary aspects, as well as serious and popular works.
Among the largest collections are the archives of the Citizens Theatre,
Scottish Ballet, including material from its beginnings as the Western
Theatre Ballet, the BBC Radio Scotland script collection and the Jimmy
Logan collection of music-hall material. Other collections include material
relating to many Scottish theatres and companies, such as the Scottish
National Players, Wilson Barrett Company, and the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe.

The contents of the different collections vary, but in general they
include programmes, scripts, production notes, photographs, posters, and
press-cuttings. Some of the collections also include business papers and
correspondence. The Archive has extensive holdings of playscripts,
totalling over 7,300 titles. As well as scripts relating to productions by
companies for which there are major holdings, and large collections of
published play texts, there are several separate script collections,
including those of John Cairney, Michael Elder, Robert Kemp, and the
Scottish Society of Playwrights.